


The Adventures of Nora Universe

by LainaFantasy



Series: Laina's Steven Universe Stories [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Nora Universe, Bisexual Character, Developing Relationship, F/F, Female Steven Universe, First to write this, Fluff, Fluff and Feels, Friendship, Genderbending, I honestly can't believe that I couldn't find a story about this yet, Pansexual Character, So I simply had to, Spoilers for Stevenbomb 6, Unless I simply couldn't find the story from whomever beat me to it, Young Love, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 15:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10925001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LainaFantasy/pseuds/LainaFantasy
Summary: Meet Nora Rose Quartz-Universe, a spunky but sweet girl who is looking for her place in the world. She's the world's first half-gem, and her mother Rose Quartz left some big shoes to fill. As she goes on adventures with the Crystal Gems, Nora Universe has to discover her powers and push her limits.Follow Connie Maheswaran as she gets to know her best friend better. Both girls will have to discover a lot about life, the gems, and love.(A series of episode-based one-shots set around the question, "What if Rose and Greg's child had been a girl?" utilizing the name given to us at the end of Lion 4: Alternate Ending.)





	The Adventures of Nora Universe

**Author's Note:**

> The title is based off an An Indirect Kiss from Season 1. If it has been a while since you've watched that episode, you may want to review it. Otherwise, enjoy!

Connie looked with dismay at her friend, who was currently venting feelings of inadequacy about not having powers like the other Crystal Gems. The young half-gem had failed to heal Amethyst previously, and, having just told the story to Connie, was trying to deal with the emotional repercussions of that failure, despite the fact that Amethyst was fine now.

Her friend kept venting, but Connie gently interrupted by taking her hand in Connie’s own. “Nora,” Connie said softly to the girl, “you don’t need any special powers to be here with me.”

Nora’s eyes visibly filled with unshed tears, and Connie offered a small smile before tackling her in a hug. Nora squeaked lightly and inadvertently startled at the sudden motion, causing both girls to fall over into the soft grass. Both gave light chuckles at this, and Connie took her glasses off and laid them in the grass nearby so that she could rest her head on Nora’s shoulder as they innocently cuddled together, Nora lying on her back and Connie on her right side against Nora’s left side. The two stayed like this for a little while before Nora let out a little sigh.

Connie looked up at Nora’s face. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Nora gave another heavy exhale before answering, “I just… I still don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t end up with all the powers my mom had. I can tell that the gems sometimes wish that she was still here to help them.”

“Nora, they love you.”

“I-I know that… but they still miss _her_. They relied on her for _everything_ , and now here I am, relying on them.”

Connie offered her friend a small smile. “Nora, that’s how growing up works. Yes, you’re dependent on them now while you’re young, and you may never be as much of an anchor for them as your mom was, but that’s okay! You’re still a kid. Nobody’s asking you to do the job of a grown woman. I’m sure Rose knew what the consequences of her choice would be, yet she had faith in the Crystal Gems that everything would be alright anyway. Now they just need to have that same faith in one another.”

A tiny, wavering smile came onto Nora’s face to echo Connie’s smile. “Yeah, you’re right. If Mom believed that they’d be okay, they’ll be okay.” Her smile brightened a bit more. “Thanks, Connie. You always know what to say.”

Connie’s expression shifted to a smile of relief now that Nora was calming down. “I’ll always be right here for you as your best friend, alright?” She placed a light, sisterly kiss on Nora’s cheek.

Nora’s smile was slightly pained and bittersweet, but she echoed the kiss with one on Connie’s forehead. The spot on Connie’s skin tingled for a moment, but Connie didn’t think much of it. Nora murmured, “Yeah, I’ll always be here for you, too.” There was weight in her voice, but Connie assumed it was from lingering emotion from their conversation.

The pair stayed like that for a moment longer before a familiar voice, carried by the wind, reached them, yelling, “Nora! Connie!”

“Pearl,” Nora muttered, “you couldn’t give us a moment longer?”

Connie stifled a giggle as she sat up. “We _are_ done with our picnic,” she pointed out, “and I’ll probably have to head home soon anyways.”

Nora muttered a little more, but Connie could tell that she really wasn’t that upset and was mostly making a big deal out of this just to distract them both from thoughts of the earlier conversation. “Cover your ears,” she told Connie. Once Connie had done so, Nora yelled with all of her considerable lung capacity, “Coming!!”

“Alright,” Pearl’s voice called back.

Connie absent-mindedly reached for her glasses in the grass nearby, putting them on and giving her eyes a moment to adjust from not wearing them to wearing them while Nora packed up the picnic gear. As her eyes failed to adjust, Connie became concerned. “Huh,” she murmured, taking the glasses off of her face to rub them against the inside of the fabric of her shirt.

Nora looked over at Connie with a bit of concern while folding up the picnic blanket. “What’s wrong?” she queried.

“My glasses…” Connie answered, “…something’s wrong with my glasses.” As she stared down at the object, looking for the issue, she realized that she could see them very clearly. “Wait, my eyes… I can see!”

“What?”

“I can see without my glasses!!”

Both girls looked quizzically at the glasses and then at each other. “Did I…” Nora ventured, “…heal your eyes? How...?”

Connie shrugged, completely and utterly confused about the whole situation, but Nora looked intensely at Connie’s forehead. It took Connie a second to realize that Nora’s gaze was on the spot where she had kissed Connie earlier. “What?” she asked.

“Maybe… when I kissed you?” Nora asked, her voice full of both hope and hesitation.

Connie hummed a bit, considering this, before she put the side of her right index finger into her mouth and bit down just enough to leave marks. “Try kissing my hand,” she offered.

In a near-formal fashion, Nora took Connie’s offered hand in her own and kissed the back of it. Both girls gasped as the marks instantly disappeared. “No way!!” Nora yelled, causing Connie to jump back a little, though the half-gem didn’t realize it. “This is awesome!! I don’t have healing tears, I have healing spit!!”

Amazement, confusion, and a bit of panic all ran through Connie. “What am I going to tell my parents?” she wondered aloud. “What am I going to tell my optometrist?!”

Nora laughed aloud in sheer glee at the new discovery and at the mild ridiculousness of the situation. “I don’t even know!” she exclaimed. “Th-this is _insane_!! I have to go tell the gems! Thank you, _thank you_ , Connie!!” She tackled her friend with a huge bear hug, squeezing the smaller girl tightly before releasing her and running over to Lion. “Come on, let’s go tell the gems right now!!”

Connie began to laugh too, unable to process the whole situation. “Hang on!” she called, grabbing the picnic blanket and basket and tucking her folded glasses into the collar of her shirt before hopping onto Lion behind Nora.

“To the gems!” Nora ordered Lion, elation still evident in her tone of voice.

Once they reached Nora’s house, both girls hopped off, and Nora ran right inside to tell the gems what had just happened. Connie hesitated, taking her old glasses in her hands again and looking at them critically. An idea came to her, and she popped the lenses out of the frame. She took the lenses inside with her and threw them away in Nora’s house, knowing that, even though Connie would have to explain to her parents what had happened eventually, she had some time for now.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! I tried to change up the dialogue a little bit so that it was more interesting to read and not simply a copy of the episode transcript. Most of the chapters will probably be about this short, simply highlighting the differences between the show with Steven as the protagonist vs. with Nora.  
> Please give me feedback! Did you love it? Did you sort of like it? Was something bugging you? Should I modify how I characterize Nora? What episodes do you want see me take on? I'm thinking of doing Alone Together next, but I'm open to suggestions for after that!  
> (Also, I highlighted the non-romantic friendship in this chapter from Connie's perspective, but I plan to have her realize her feelings for Nora later on. Nora, since she's growing up with the gems and Greg who all seem to be very open to diversity, is already pretty aware that she likes Connie, which is something I'll explore in a later chapter. I just wanted to clarify this for anyone who was a bit confused about the subtext I probably failed to execute properly.)


End file.
